What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul
by my.sock.account
Summary: Alt ending for Ch. 5 of my story Let Leave This Town, it's Noah's POV from the Attorney appointment.


_Wrote this with Chapter 5, wasn't sure which I would use. But as it's wrote i thought why the hell not? Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Standard disclaimers apply ~Sock_

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Driving down the road my mind was going a mile a minute; I can't stand driving and not knowing where I'm going. Ma's car was a pretty nice ride though, for a mom car. I was sort of pissed, I didn't want to leave Rachel for this surprise family trip Ma wanted to take. Ma's surprises are always lame, and having to drag Dani along. Shit, I love her, but Dani can be as annoying as fuck when we're in the car. I looked over at the roadside sign 'Wooster 2 miles'. I was going to stop and get gas there. We were already a good two hours away from home so I figured it was time.

When I got back in the car Ma turned to me. "Are you ready to tell us what this big surprised is? How much longer we're gonna be driving so Dani can use the bathroom and I don't have to stop a million times before we get there!"

"Hey" Dani shouts from the back seat, "I'm not that bad. Something flew past my head, who knows what she has back there to throw.

"Cut it out the both of you. We're going to Pittsburgh, we are going to see your 'Savie's' youngest sister, my Aunt, your Great Aunt. She never had any children so it will be nice for her. Then we can go shopping down at the Strip, we'll spend a night or two."

I just nod my head and turn up the radio; Ma has some Cd with show tunes on it, so again I'm thinking of Rachel. I'm really sick and tired of this sneaking around shit her dad's are making us do. I mean she's been my friend, almost my other half, all my life. They never cared before, just when we got older and puberty hit. So what, we were kids and our bodies were doing funny things, it's only natural we do a little exploring. They should have seen it from my angle. If it wasn't me, it would have been that Tommy from down the street. Which would have been worse, someone they don't know? Or me?

Huh, wonder why Ma had the GPS set on that stupid British lady voice option. She doesn't even sound hot, which I guess is a good thing, don't want to be distracted. Glad I have it though, shit's getting tight here. Of course Ma wants me to be driving downtown during rush hour, not the best feeling for a small town guy like me, but I'm badass, I'll deal.

Finally we get here and the hotel is pretty sweet, for a Holiday Inn, it has a pool and everything. I'll have to check out later. I think Ray packed my trunks. Can't forget she wants me to text her. Mom starts with the bossy bitch act right away.

"I want you kids to shower and get changed into your dress clothes, we have to be there at one."

Fucking tie Ma picked out is fucking lame. Old lady probably can't even see. Dani doesn't care, she doing this little spin thing around the beds that she thinks is so great.

"We can walk there so let's be on our way." Ma looks nervous, I don't know why; it's just an old lady that she's known all her life. We're walking down the streets and really the buildings are pretty cool and there are lots people everywhere. Ma stops besides this one building and it doen't look much like a nursing home, more like an office building. I turn to Ma and she mumbles something about making a few stops first. We go up this elevator to the third floor and the office we go into _is_ pretty swanky. The secretary could be better looking but what can ya do.

We're seated, and waiting for something I'm not sure. "Ma where's your Aunt living at, I thought you said we had to be there at one today?" But then some guy interrupts us and calls Ma 'Mrs. Puckerman' so we follow him in. We all sit around his office; I pick the couch away from the desk. I figure its Ma's business not mine.

But then I hear the guy talking to Ma.

"Mrs. Puckerman, these are the minor children Noah and Daniela?" It's like whoa back the fuck up. I look over at Ma and she's staring at the fucking ground, she won't even look at me. So I get nervous.

"What's going on?"

Mr. Neumann looks at Ma and she just shakes her head, signifying that we know nothing. Just fucking great.

"Noah, Daniela, I am Mr. Neumann, Shane Puckerman's attorney and executor of his estate. You are here for the reading of his will and the disbursement of his possessions."

Holy fucking shit, holy fucking shit! He's gone; he can't ever get to me again. I will never have to be scared that he's coming again. Is this real, is this guy for real. I'm looking between this lawyer and Ma, back and forth and neither are saying anything. So like usual I need to make some kind of smart ass comment.

"So the dead-beats dead huh!"

"His body finally succumbed to the alcoholism. Like his father before him and his brother. "

Ma's talking now, it all sounds like bullshit to me, I don't want to hear it anymore so I interrupt her.

"Great Ma, so now you're ready to talk! So how long have you known about this?"

I don't really want to know. I hated yelling at my Ma, but she should have known better to spring this on me. She knows any mention of Shane Puckerman scares the shit out of me. All this left over shit from my childhood is bullshit. There are tears in her eyes but she speaks clearly. Obviously she's had more time to deal with this.

"Your father and I have been in contact for about two years. He's had chronic liver disease for a while but he called when his liver biopsies came back malignant. The cancer didn't take long to ravage the rest of his body. He died at the end of last November. I figured seeing as Dani's never met him, . .

"Your fucking right she's never met him!" I interrupt. . . . "and you weren't in the right place to forgive. I didn't want to say anything. I quietly came here and buried him so neither of you would be the wiser. It was when I told you I had to go to Pittsburgh for that nursing seminar. Do you remember? I wasn't expecting this though, so now you both had to find out."

She reached out and tried to touch me, hug me, but I wouldn't let her. I moved so she couldn't reach me, I heard Dani start to cry in her chair.

"Noah, I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you before this, but every time I tried, I could see it ending badly. I just wanted to come here and get this done with. We can put it all behind us now honey. He's never coming back. When he first contacted me he knew he didn't have a chance with you. He asked about you. But didn't want to jeopardize what you have now, a better, healthier life by trying to get to know you again." I didn't care for a word of the shit she was trying to soothe me with, it was all jumbled anyway.

I turned towards Daniela, ever since she came into this world she has always been my number one priority. I leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Dani, you stop that crying, I'm not angry at you, I'm kinda mad at Ma. I'm furious with him though. You're so lucky; I never wanted anything of his to be near you, to touch you, and now that no good, drunken ass bastard is dead, he never will. Everything that was ever good in him went to you. So don't you cry because you're so much better off. I'm gonna take off now, you stay with Ma, but when you get home, home , I'll be there with Ray, 'K. We'll make this better. Make sure Ma let's you have some fun while you're here, alright."

Standing up I turned to this 'Mr. Neumann', and said "You'll have to excuse me, but no thanks!"

I walked as quickly as I could to the door but still heard Ma yelling for me to come back. Hell no! Down the elevator and to the closet bus depot I went. I wanted to go home to Rachel, that's all I could focus on, casue if I didn't who the fuck knows what stupid shit I would do next!


End file.
